BOBBATH

Tip o' the hat to Dick-when Newport opened in 1964- he was one of three heat leaders along with Alby Golden and Peter Vandenberg(both of whom have passed away). Dick would have been almost 40 years old then and could mix it with the best of them. When he retired after a nasty accident Newport really suffered. A fine gentleman-if any of Dick's relatives are reading this please thank him for all the entertainment he gave to all his many fans. Happy Birthday Dick!

Back on my favourite subject-how would forumlanders who recall the 50's and 60's-rank Rune Sormander v. Peo Soderman- in the oldest World Finalists list in terms of career performance think. I Might have to give Rune the edge!!

It's gotta be Ove then as the greatest of all time.

Does anyone know the results of all the races that Fundin and Moore were in together-like who won the most. I reckon it would be Ove but I do recognise that Ove was far more selfish than Ronnie as a team rider. What about all the races where Briggo met Moore?

Hi guys -missed one out - Mike Broadbanks (and I still think of this as his surname) was born 25/9/34-so a bit older than Briggo and just behind the "nipper" Looked back at all my programmes and was amazed to see the only time I saw Bjorn ride was in the 65 World Final. As regards the question of who was the best of the big five -I would have to say unequivocally it was Fundin-second best is a toss up between Briggo and Moore, guess I would have to go with Ronnie-sadly I never got to see Peter Craven, Bjorn had too short a career to rank with the others imho

So here is the updated list as of 24.11.2017 1 Split Waterman born 27/7/23 2 Arthur Payne born 30/8/24 3 Dick Bradley born 28/11/24 4 Chum Taylor born 4/4/27 5 Eric Boothroyd born 26/4/27 6 Derek Close born 13/5/27 7 Henry Long born 26/7/27 8 Billy Bales born 6/6/29 9 Olle Nygren born 11/11/29 10 Rune Sormander born 29/11/29 11Jack Geran born 10/12/29 12 George White born 24/5/31 13 Ian Williams born 4/8/31 14 Per Tage Svensson born 16/10/31 15 Peo Soderman born 29/10/32 16 Ronnie Moore born 8/3/33 Next folks in order 17 Ove Fundin born 23/5/33 18 Dan Forsberg born 25/3/34 19 Josef Hofmeister born 17/6/34 20 Brian Crutcher born 23/8/34 21 Barry Briggs born 30/12/34

Gotta agree with you guys- Norbold re your post I think there is an element of truth about the nerves of Bjorn (nervous Knutte)-he had been the favorite to win a couple of Finals in the early sixties as you know and dare I say it that indeed , on many occasions, he could get the better of Ove and Briggo. I think in 1965 the circumstances were a bit different-while one of the favorites he did not ride in England and so the glare of attention was not on him. Also at Wembley in the Final he lost his first race to Banger-so again the heat was off him-then after that he won the rest of his races and finished champ with 14. Incidentally according to Eric Linden (Danny Carter, Angus Kix and who the heck other names he used)in the Star Sept 17 1968 that covered the preview to the Final he had Briggo as the odds on favourite and then as other favourites he had Plechanov, Knutsson and Nigel Boocock.. He had then a third category as class outsiders which included Ove, which seemed to prove out when Boocock beat Ove in his first ride. My first World Final ( and visit to Wembley)-what a wonderful evening for me. Went back to Cardiff on a late train from Paddington-with some Newport supporters who worked for a company in Panteg or Cwmbran -perhaps GKN-probably doesn't exist any longer-if you're out there guys let me know!! Re the oldest Finalists list- are Crutcher and Briggo the next oldest after Ove -because if so we have our second and third reserves after Ove.!!! Again I have to say that 1965 for me was the Golden year of Speedway-thank Buddha I kept all my programmes and Speedway Stars!!!!!!!!!

After all this comment re my mental state are there any more riders besides Brian Crutcher and Briggo who were born in 1933-34 who will be eligible for this list- Bjorn Knutsson maybe for example who I was privileged to see win his only World Title in 1965 (could have won more in my opinion-great rider!!)

Sorry everybody- I hope I am not in the early stages of dementia-my wife says I am because I can't/won't remember where the kitchen stuff is!!

That's great news about Arthur Payne- long may he be with us. Anyone know Briggo's dob-he must be about the same age as Ove

Firstly I agree with the BL65-Soderman is ahead of Bradley for #5-re the Crutcher thing-there are a whole bunch of famous riders born around 1933 and 34 e.g. Briggo-but it looks like Ove is the first reserve on the Oldest World Finalists list-not absolutely sure-could Norbold & BL65 tell us who are the people just behind Ove in age??

OK folks -it seems we all agree on the first three riders of the list in terms of who would beat others at the top of their careers(I almost posted carers!!) . After Ronnie, Split and Olle -I put Rune Sormander as the fourth best- no disagreement yet posted there-so wh would you put #5-I would put Dick Bradley-taking into account his World Final Appearances and that he was still a heat leader at 40 and indeed appeared in the 1965 BL(best season ever) and may have carried on if not for Clive Featherby!!

I got 11- now if they had asked who the tallest ever speedway rider was (sorry Norbold) or the Oldest Surviving World Finalists I would have got a couple more FFS!!!

Then o great one who would you say on that list is #4- I reckon it would have to be Rune Sormander-what do the rest of you think. My favourite rider was of course Dick Bradley, but maybe he didn't stack up against these guys-although in terms of who was a great gentleman he would be right up there!!

Excellent comments-would you then say that of the 16 listed Ronnie is undoubtedly the best , but then Split and then Olle or is there another name that would be one of the top three?

In answer to Norbold, I think the birthdates came from wikipaedia, internet searches and forumlanders info I have to agree Ronnie would be the champ. Here's another would Split at his best beat Olle Nygren at his best

Anybody know if Arthur Payne is still with us?? Also if the meeting were held who would win between Ronnie and Split when both riders were at their peak??

Sadly according to an internet search Fred Brand passed away at age 91 Also Arthur Wright passed away in November 2016-not sure about Arthur payne

Somebody mentioned Ivor Brown-certainly agree with that- also Tony Clark-were they ever in a race together. As a team I always thought Sheffield Tigers were full of tough guys-particularly in PL 1964-always a good night when the Tigers visited. Great team in my view.

Thanx Roger-btw I really miss the speedway at Paris Checked out page 17 of "years gone by" but don't see any oldest surviving World Finalists post there-although people did put lists up of their favourite riders-I also searched for"oldest surviving world finalists" and couldn't find anything there either. Help!!

Do you remember we had a topic on this item some years ago 16 names + 2 reserves. Can someone help me reconstruct it as many folks on the list e.g. Cyril Roger, Fred Williams, Brian Elliott etc have passed away. I am sure Split must be #1 and Dick Bradley maybe #2. I would guess a number of riders born in the thirties who are now in their eighties would now qualify so we would be getting into the riders we all know e.g. Briggo, Ove, Ivan etc, Henry Long if still with us would surely make the list Peo Soderman also. What do forymlanders reckon the list would look like now?

Good topic- I agree with the names listed from the sixties e.g. Ron Mountford, Clive Featherby -wot about Bill Andrew and maybe the Boocock brothers and Doug Templeton??

Howdy Byford was another Japanese POW-still miss "The Champ"!!!

Think it will be tough to beat Len's record. Got a photo recently from Reg Fearman of him with Split Waterman , looking hail and hearty, living in Spain and in his mid nineties. Norbold refers to list of oldest World Finalists-anybody got an updated list they can post here-with Cyril Roger gone I reckon Split must be top of that list although good old Dick Bradley (one of my favourites and well recall the accident with Clive Featherby which ended his career in 1964) must be pretty close to the top , ditto Olle Nygren.

Glad to see this post was so popular-indeed I don't really know if Jim Squibb rode before the war-I was thinking of the years post war. Was wonderful to see other stalwarts posted as contenders e.g. Colin Goody. Enjoyed reading all the posts. One question-in 1967 (I think) I was at the Wimbledon v. Exeter meeting-there was a Golden Helmet (or maybe Silver Sash) race after the League match-Olle Nygren was the champ and defending his title against the top Exeter scorer =-the Exeter rider won against the odds- I think it was Jim Squibb but it may have ben Colin Goody-does anybody recall this and who won-maybe Norbold 'cos I think he was there and I bought him a beer(which you still owe me Norman!!) Glad to see this post was so popular-indeed I don't really know if Jim Squibb rode before the war-I was thinking of the years post war. Was wonderful to see other stalwarts posted as contenders e.g. Colin Goody. Enjoyed reading all the posts. One question-in 1967 (I think) I was at the Wimbledon v. Exeter meeting-there was a Golden Helmet (or maybe Silver Sash) race after the League match-Olle Nygren was the champ and defending his title against the top Exeter scorer =-the Exeter rider won against the odds- I think it was Jim Squibb but it may have ben Colin Goody-does anybody recall this and who won-maybe Norbold 'cos I think he was there and I bought him a beer(which you still owe me Norman!!) As a techno peasant can't figure out why my previous note was posted twice- I don't understand this modern technology and in fact have only now just started banking online-wot happened to all the humans I used to deal with!!